Don't Love Anything That Can Be Taken

I Think Writing A Poem Is Like Being A Greyhound. Writing A Novel Is Like Being A Mule. You Go Up One Long Row, Then Down Another, And Try Not To Look Up Too Often To See How Far You Still Have To Go.

It Struck Her How Eating Was A Comfort During A Hard Time Because It Reminded You That There Had Been Other Days, Good Days, When You’d Eaten The Same Thing. Reminded You There Were Good Days In Life, When Precious Little Else Did. (268)

I Usually Do At Least A Dozen Drafts And Progressively Make More-conscious Decisions. Because I've Always Believed Stories Are Closer To Poems Than Novels, I Spend A Lot Of Time On The Story's Larger Rhythms, Such As Sentence And Paragraph Length, Placement Of Flashbacks And Dialogue.

What I've Become Convinced Makes A Writer Are The Days You Hate It, The Days You'd Rather Stick Those Pencils In Your Eyes. Sometimes I Almost Punish Myself - If I'm Not Going Be Able To Write, I'm Not Going Be Able To Do Anything Else. I Just Sit There And Wait.

But Nothing Is Solid And Permanent. Our Lives Are Raised On The Shakiest Foundations. You Don't Need To Read History Books To Know That. You Only Have To Know The History Of Your Own Life.